SAP HANA, express edition (server-only): You can connect using SQL clients like SAP HANA Studio or any other client. Includes the Predictive Analytic Library, Machine learning libraries and other advanced analytics.

SAP HANA, express edition + XS Advanced Applications (also referred to as XSA): Includes all of the other features plus the Cloud Foundry based development platform, SAP Web IDE for SAP HANA, administration cockpit among other applications like SHINE and Smart Data Streaming. OData support, Node.js and Java runtime environments are also included. This option requires more resources and is covered in this other tutorial.

Click on the SAP HANA, express edition tile:

Click on the Launch on Compute Engine:

The next page will allow you to modify the default configuration for the Cloud Virtual Machine.

Type an identifying name for the instance, then select the desired geographic zone and machine type. Individual zones might have differing computing resources available and specific access restrictions.

By default, the firewall rules are configured specifically for SAP HANA, express edition. As new SAP HANA applications are created, additional ports might have to be opened up. The following ports are required to connect to SAP HANA, express edition: 8090, 4390, 39013, 39015, 59013, 59014.To connect to the instance from a local SSH client, like PuTTY, port 22 also has to be open.

After reviewing all configuration options, scroll down and click Deploy. This will take a few minutes.

Step 2: Log in to the instance and change the administration passwords

Upon successful deployment, use the web based SSH tool and log into your instance.

Type the following command:

sudo su - hxeadm

Hit Enter. Follow the prompts to change password. IMPORTANT: SAP HANA will not be usable if this step is ignored.

Note: Please check the password policy to avoid errors

SAP HANA, express edition requires a very strong password that complies with these rules:

Cannot contain simplistic or systematic values, like strings in ascending or descending numerical or alphabetical order. Please review password requirements in the SAP Help

Type in a password following the rules (the cursor will not move):

Enter Y to continue with configuration when prompted:

Once configuration is finished, you will see a success message:

You should also change your default Operating System password for user hxeadm. Open a new SSH console and use the following command as your GCP user for this:

sudo passwd hxeadm

Note: The default hxeadm password is HXEHana1

Step 3: Take note of your external IP and connect

To connect to SAP HANA, you need to know what the external IP address is. Once deployment is finished, you can click on the menu and navigate to Compute Engine -> VM instances to see your newly created Virtual Machine.

Take note of your IP address:

Alternatively, click on the Learn more and follow the steps to create a static external IP address. This could increase costs but will allow you to perform this configuration only once.

Use your IP address to map it to the hosts file in your computer. You need administration permissions to do this.

For Windows Computers: If your user is not an administrator but has administrator rights, right-click on Notepad and choose Run as Administrator. If you are an administrator user, proceed to the next point.

Open the file or navigate with Windows explorer. You need to edit the file called hosts in the directory C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc